Shrewsbury A endured a difficult night on the road, picking up just one point from three Shropshire Rapidplay Chess League division fixtures at Newport.
Missing regular top board Nathanael Paul through illness, Shrewsbury were no match for the division’s high fliers Maddocks A and Newport A – and were fortunate to escape from their match with bottom-of-the-table Maddocks B with a draw, writes Peter Kitchen.
It means Francis Best’s side have picked up just three points from six rapidplay league matches this month – with no wins in any of them – and now look set to finish a distant fourth in the six-team division.
Shrewsbury took a four-man squad to Newport Royal British Legion Club for the evening, which featured three rounds of matches with each player having 20 minutes of thinking time on their clocks. As well as Paul’s absence, Rob Green was also unavailable. But Mark Smith made a welcome return to the side.
Round one: Hushed by the hosts
Shrewsbury took on hosts Newport A in the night’s first round of matches – with the hosts still harbouring hopes of their own of gatecrashing the title race.
Peter Kitchen stepped up to board one on the night but had a nightmare start with a game to forget against Nick Rutter. Kitchen, deviating from his usual French, quickly lost his way out of the opening on the black side of a Philidor Defence and after missing a tactic to lose a pawn and exchange quickly followed. As did resignation.
Smith levelled the scores with victory over Danny Griffiths on bottom board, benefitting from his opponent charitably giving away a piece early on. But Best was unable to hold a difficult middlegame against Ian Jamieson on board two and Dan Lockett was beaten by Chris Lewis on board three.
Shrewsbury A 1-3 Newport A (Shrewsbury colours in brackets)
1. Peter Kitchen (b) 0-1 Nick Rutter
2. Francis Best (w) 0-1 Ian Jamieson
3. Dan Lockett (b) 0-1 Chris Lewis
4. Mark Smith (w) 1-0 Danny Griffiths
Maddocks A 3-1 Maddocks B (A Grillage 1-0 G White, T Preece 0-1 S Tarr, P Bull 1-0 S Maydew, G Pugh 1-0 G Viszokai)
Round two: Kitchen rescues a point against basement boys
Maddocks B had not picked up a single point from their previous eight rapidplay league matches this season – but almost nicked their first win against Shrewsbury.
In the end, it took Peter Kitchen beating Gary White on top board in the final game to finish to square the scores at 2-2 – and that wasn’t without its drama. Kitchen had just six seconds of thinking time left on his clock when he checkmated his opponent.
Earlier, Best had agreed a swift draw with the black pieces against Steve Tarr on board two, and Lockett shared the spoils with the solid Simon Maydew on board three.
Maddocks had taken the lead when George Viszokai outplayed Smith on bottom board. But Kitchen levelled the scores at the death to spare Shrewsbury’s blushes.
Maddocks B 2-2 Shrewsbury A
1. Gary White 0-1 Peter Kitchen (w)
2. Steve Tarr 0.5-0.5 Francis Best (b)
3. Simon Maydew 0.5-0.5 Dan Lockett (w)
4. George Viszokai 1-0 Mark Smith (b)
Newport A 1-3 Maddocks A (N Rutter 0.5-0.5 A Grillage, I Jamieson 0.5-0.5 T Preece, C Lewis 0-1 P Bull, D Griffiths 0-1 G Pugh)
Round three: A frustrating end to a difficult night
Shrewsbury went down to a heavy 3.5-0.5 defeat as opponents Maddocks A went top of the table – but it could have been very different.
Both Kitchen and Best built up superior positions on the top two boards – but neither was able to convert and only half a point was secured from the two games.
Smith lost to Glyn Pugh on bottom board and Lockett was unable to halt Phil Bull on board three.
Best appeared to be on course for victory against Maddocks captain Tony Preece on board two, but running short of time slipped up and in the final position just the kings were left on the board.
Kitchen’s defeat with the black pieces on top board against Andrew Grillage was even more frustrating. He had the better of the middlegame and won a pawn, ending up with two passed a-pawns as the game headed towards an ending.
Grillage found a cute tactic with his knights to win Kitchen’s d5 pawn and level the material count, but Kitchen still looked the favourite. However, in the time scramble that followed, Kitchen lost both his passed pawns, and although he fought back to an arguably level knight ending he lost on time with Grillage having 44 seconds to spare.
Shrewsbury A 0.5-3.5 Maddocks A
1. Peter Kitchen (b) 0-1 Andrew Grillage
2. Francis Best (w) 0.5-0.5 Tony Preece
3. Dan Lockett (b) 0-1 Phil Bull
4. Mark Smith (w) 0-1 Glyn Pugh
Newport A 3.5-0.5 Maddocks B (N Rutter 1-0 G White, I Jamieson 1-0 S Tarr, C Lewis 1-0 S Maydew, D Griffiths 0.5-0.5 G Viszokai)
Shrewsbury will sit out the next round of matches at Maddocks on May 4 before taking on title challengers Maddocks A and Telepost A and also Maddocks B in the final round of fixtures at Telford on May 10.